Teaser trailer for “650 Lifer,” new White Boy Rick documentary

He was a kid among men. Violent men. When Richard “White Boy Rick” Wershe Jr. was just a teenager he ran with a crew of drug dealers in 1980s Detroit handling multi-kilos of cocaine. He did so at the behest of the Detroit Police Department who had recruited the then 14-year-old as an informant.

In the years that followed, the teenager provided law enforcement with information that helped bring down drug dealers, gang members, kingpins, and a group of corrupt Detroit cops.

Then came his own arrest.

Wershe Jr. was pulled over at a traffic stop and when police searched his house later they found 17 pounds of cocaine. Teenage informant or not: The law showed no appreciation for his cooperation.

In 1988, 17-year-old Wershe Jr. was convicted and sentenced to life in prison under the 650 Lifer Law, a law that mandated an automatic life sentence, without parole, for carrying at least 650 grams of cocaine. The law was later rolled back and all the men sentenced under it – over 220 - have since been released.

All except White Boy Rick.

Since 1988, Wershe saw many of his former colleagues, men who did much worse - convicted of murder even - get released from prison, while he remained locked up.

His case began receiving more and more attention from the media and now a new documentary titled 650 Lifer will shed light on this strange and unbelievable story of life and crime in America during the War on Drugs.

The documentary is to be released later this year though no specific date has been set yet.